15 Great Food Moments in Music Video History

Some people watch music videos with their eyes peeled for celebrity cameos. Others focus on the artists’ fashion choices, zeroing in on vintage Air Jordans or unreleased designer garbs. And then, of course, there are the maniacs who just look for signs of Illuminati brainwashing.

Needless to say, what gets us most fired up is FOOD in our favorite videos—the way certain restaurants set the scene for the song, or the way grub serves as a pivotal prop in the action. We also enjoy when food just shows up randomly in the midst of the visual smorgasbord—take, for example, Snoop Dogg’s “Gangster Love” video, when a sexy lady starts feeding Snoop Dogg noodles in the back of a car for no apparent reason.

To wit, here are our favorite food-related music video moments of all time. As you might have guessed, we watch a lot of rap videos, but we also appreciate classics in any genre. Don’t see your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

Sir Mix-A-Lot on late-night eats

Artist: Sir Mix-A-Lot
Song: "Posse on Broadway" (1988)
Key food moments: Shots of drive-in from 1:44. Taco Bell: 3:28.
Why we love it: Though Seattle's most famous MC drops a nod to Taco Bell here ("Now the posse's gettin' hungry, and Mix-a-Lot's treatin'/We stopped at Taco Bell, for some Mexican eatin'"), the culinary star of the song is Dick's Drive-In, where they go after finding that the Taco Bell is closed. Sir Mix-A-Lot rhymes, "Dick's is the place were the cool hang out/The SWASS like to play and the rich flaunt clout." His posse shows off by dropping a $20 on the ground like it's nothing, proving that the missed opportunity for "Mexican eating" has provided a perfect chance for classic American bragging.

Cherry pie, the greatest euphemism of them all

Artist: Warrant
Song: "Sweet Cherry Pie" (1990)
Key food moment:The money shot at 0:34.
Why we love it: What would hair rock be without cute girls in roller skates and a very obvious allusion to the all-American girl's private parts? Absolutely nowhere. Food plays a small but extremely useful role in the video, when a slice of cherry pie falls directly into the lap of one young, scantily-clad lady. Like we said, subtle.

The Beastie Boys' food fight

Artist: Beastie Boys
Song: "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" (1986)
Key food moments: Pies in the face from 2:24 onward
Why we love it: The most classic food fight committed to film. In retrospect, considering the song's call to action, the event is rather tame. However, the youthful energy captures the spirit of the early Beastie Boys' hit—simultaneously amusing fans and remaining inoffensive to television advertisers. Side note: Our esteemed editor-in-chief once tossed a cream pie into the face of a French-Canadian man in London's Covent Garden during a failed act by a street performer. No points given for guessing his inspiration.

Kelis redefines the milkshake

Artist: Kelis
Song: "Milkshake" (2003)
Key food moments: Tasty’s Yard diner scenes from 0:10-2:10.
Why we love it: Where should we start? It’s one of the most ubiquitous food-as-sex music videos of all time, and even though it’s from her third studio album, “Milkshake” is the joint that put Kelis on the map. It’s got every possible suggestion of the female body using food—buns baked in the shape of breasts, eggs fried in the shape of breasts, pairs of cherries on whipped cream, milkshake machines spraying milk. Offended mothers cover their sons’ eyes, and girlfriends throw nasty glances at their smitten boyfriends (what do you expect from a joint called Tasty’s?). The best part, though, is a cameo by a very lusty diner cook played by Nas, Kelis’ then-future, now-former husband.

Weird Al's finest food spoof

Artist: Weird Al Yankovic
Song: "Just Eat It" (1984)
Key food moments: Whole video, especially 0:48 when he's lying alone in bed with some donuts.
Why we love it: As with most Weird Al parodies, it pays to watch the original video first—in this case, Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” Whereas the King of Pop takes advocates replacing violence with dancing, Weird Al takes a stand against fussy eaters who won’t clean their plates. In addition to featuring memorable moments like a fight scene in which knives are swapped for chickens, this video demonstrated that Weird Al is actually a pretty decent dancer.

The Fat Boys go H.A.M. in a Sbarro

Artist: Fat Boys
Song: "All You Can Eat" (1985)
Key food moments: Whole video
Why we love it: When a music video takes place at Sbarro in Midtown, you know it’s going to be legendary. “All You Can Eat” is basically about three guys living the dream, running amok in the NYC streets and living by a simple mantra: “I’m gon’ stuff my face to a funky beat.” They’re all in track suits (untouchable grubbing attire), and every time they go through the $3.99 buffet line, they each get a whole pizza. If that's how Sbarro used to be back in the day, then damn—R.I.P. to the greatest place on earth. Some of the worst editing effects everdon’t take even away from the enduring charm of this video. It’s undoubtedly where Mackelmore got some of his inspiration.

Jay-Z goes to Rao's

Artist: Jay-Z
Song: "Death of Autotune" (2009)
Key food moments: Eating at Rao’s: 1:30 and 2:10. Playing poker in the kitchen: 2:30 and 3:22.
Why we love it: Sure, Jay probably could have rented any number of fancy restaurants in New York to film a video. But Rao's is a strategic choice, designed to feed into Jigga's mythology as a man bigger than rap. See, not just anyone can eat at Rao's (it helps to know Woody Allen), and certainly not just anyone can film a video there. Here is a glimpse into the life of the Frank Sinatra of hip-hop: Eating and drinking in a semiprivate red-sauce joint, playing high-stakes poker (“No fives, no singles, man. It’s not a strip club”), wearing scarves, and smoking cigars. Who else but Jay could slap hands and gamble with Harvey Keitel in one frame, then play one-on-one with Lebron in the the next? The song may have been about the death of Autotune, but the video was all about killing off the corny trappings of rap-video wealth and showing how real dons get down.

The Internet meme that was "Milk & Cereal"

Artist: Song by G. Love and Special Sauce, video by Matt Feidler and Dan Loveless
Song: "Milk & Cereal" (2003)
Key food moments: The whole video
Why we love it: The only unofficial video to make the list earns a spot for demonstrating the power of YouTube to turn a kitschy food song into Internet gold. Here's how it happened: Available only on an obscure five-track EP (Rappin' Blues) released in 1999, the oddly catchy track spawned a lip-synced remake in 2003 by two Virginia Tech students. In the clip, Matt Feidler and Dan Loveless pop up behind a jug of milk and a box of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios while singing into spoons. Since then, there have been at least a dozen remakes of Loveless and Feidler’s performance, including one by Formula One driver Scott Speed.

Juelz Santana shows us the duality of dining

Artist: Juelz Santana
Song: “S.A.N.T.A.N.A.” (2004)
Key food moments: Italian feast begins at 1:36. Chinese feast begins at 2:54.
Why we love it: Juelz is one of the best food-rap MCs ever, and he proves it on this track full of braggadocio-filled dining antics: “Bitch, I ain't her to wine ya, I ain't her to dine ya—I came here to pop ya/And I came here for lobster, the whole damn shabang and they ain't brang the pasta." The video makes it even more hilarious that he can’t get good service, since we see that he, Camron, and a bunch of ladies are the only customers in what appears to be an enormous private restaurant. The way they plate the spaghetti, piled on so haphazardly that it falls of the edges of the plates, is also amazing—as is the fact that there are bottles of Sizzurp on the table (the perfect seafood pairing, natch).
But for all of the boss of all bosses posturing of this staging, the best part is when the scene is transported to a hole-in-the-wall Chinese joint where the gang clink tea cups and dig into mounds of noodles while Juelz playfully scares a ladyfriend with a live lobster. The only thing that remains the same is the bottles of booze—B.Y.O.B., suckas! Suddenly, everyone is having way more fun, and there doesn't appear to be any problems with the service. If this isn’t the most compelling case ever for cheap eats over fine dining, we don’t know what is.

Snoop Dogg Getting Fed Noodles in the Back of the Whip

Artist: Snoop Dogg
Song: "Gangster Love" (2009)
Key food moment: 3:14
Why we love it: This truly qualifies as a "moment," and it's the sheer randomness of it that makes it so memorable. Throughout the video, Snoop Doog rides around in the back of a roofless whip with The Dream as his chauffeur, entertaining women of all races and driving lots of places you're normally not allowed to, like inside buildings. When they are cruising through a supermarket, Snoop suddenly finds himself alone with an Asian babe, who uses chopsticks to feed him noodles from a large bowl. If this is the new version of being hand-fed grapes by semi-naked damsels, we're 'bout it.

Cam'ron rapping with chicken wings

Artist: Clipse featuring Camron
Song: "Popular Demand" (2009)
Key food moments: Malice eating chicken and fries: 0:54 and 1:08. Cam in the chicken spot starting 1:18.
Why we love it: What's not to like about Dipset's finest MC spitting a fire verse inside a hood takeout spot, while intermittently ripping into fried chicken wings? It's all great, and it reminds us of how effective it can be to point a fry at someone while trying to make a point.

Lady Gaga makes a sandwich

Artist: Lady Gaga
Song: "Telephone" (2010)
Key food moments: Diner scene begins at 5:50. Making a sandwich: 6:33-6:58.
Why we love it: If you don't like Lady Gaga videos, you likely don't have beating heat in your chest. This nine and a half minute collabo with Beyonce is particularly epic—a mini movie in which Bey bails Gaga out of lady prison and the two hit the road in the "Pussy Wagon." There's a lot to dig into here, but let's focus on the topic at hand: At one point, the words "Let's Make a Sandwich" appear on the screen and Lady Gaga goes to work with Miracle Whip and Wonderbread (skipping over the more appetizing-looking baguettes on the table) while a bunch of dudes dance around her. This is pretty much exactly what's happening in our minds every time we make a sandwich.

Asher Roth eats seared foie gras in a supermarket

Artist: Asher Roth
Song: "Muddy Swim Trunks" (2010)
Key food moments: The whole video takes place in a supermarket, culiminating in a meal of seared foie gras with quince and cranberry at 1:54.
Why we love it: Asher dropped this video for his 2010 mixtape Seared Foie Gras with Quince and Cranberry, which boasted some of the best food-related cover art of all time. It's all captured in one shot, with the rapper strolling through a supermarket and getting into hijinks like bowling with watermelons and sleeping in the bread aisle. The end, where he enjoys a private meal of foie gras in the back of the store, feels like a knowing nod to the foodie obsession with Brooklyn Fare and other haute restaurants hidden away in grocery stores and other unlikely places.

Some people watch music videos with their eyes peeled for celebrity cameos. Others focus on the artists' fashion choices, zeroing in on vintage Air Jordans or unreleased designer garbs. And then, of course, there are the maniacs who just look for signs of Illuminati brainwashing.
Needless to say, what gets us most fired up is FOOD in our favorite videos—the way certain restaurants set the scene for the song, or the way grub serves as a pivotal prop in the action. We also enjoy when food just shows up randomly in the midst of the visual smorgasbord—take, for example, Snoop Dogg's "Gangster Love" video, when a sexy lady starts feeding Snoop Dogg noodles in the back of a car for no apparent reason.
To wit, here are our favorite food-related music video moments of all time. As you might have guessed, we watch a lot of rap videos, but we also appreciate classics in any genre. Don't see your favorite? Let us know in the comments.
Written by Chris Schonberger (@cschonberger), Nick Schonberger (@nschon), and Sarah Lawson (@SKLawson)

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